Saying that the Colorado Avalanche have mishandled negotiations with restricted free agent center Ryan O’Reilly would be a gross understatement. The 22-year-old became an integral part of the team last season, leading the Avalanche in scoring with 55 points (18 goals, 37 assists). A nice young core was forming with O’Reilly and fellow forwards Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog from which the Avs could build their future.

Now, it appears that O’Reilly is good as gone from Colorado. O’Reilly’s father, Brian, has taken great offense with Avalanche management and the way they do business, and he took to Twitter with his opinion:

@happy_jillmoore @coachbri1 sorry the ave’s don’t want him or place value on what he brings. They practice external control boss management.

It really comes as quite a surprise, as young two-way centers aren’t readily available throughout the league and you would think the Avs would be willing to negotiate with O’Reilly to a reasonable salary number. Adrian Dater of the Denver Post reported that O’Reilly was looking for a long-term deal with around $5 million per year. That’s a totally unreasonable number compared to Duchene’s two-year, $7 million dollar deal.

As Dater also points out, it wouldn’t be the first time that Avalanche general manager Greg Sherman and company has given up on the team’s premier free agents. Goalie Craig Anderson and forwards Tomas Fleischmann and Peter Mueller also come to mind as players the team enforced a take-it-or-leave-it negotiating policy. That kind of tactic really just isn’t conducive to building a long-term contender.

All 29 teams should be lining up for a chance to make a move for O’Reilly. It’s not every day a player with his skill set is openly available.